This is our first July "morning", so in line with a new element of our articles, today we will present you the most important information from recent weeks, which may be useful from the point of view of the real estate market and the construction industry in general.
1. Entry into force of the new development act
This change is so important that we would like to remind you once again, this time about the fact that on July 1, 2022, a new development act entered into force , i.e. the Act of May 20, 2021, on the protection of the rights of purchasers of residential premises or single-family houses and on the Developer Guarantee Fund.
We have written about the changes introduced by the Act many times, including in articles #47 , #48 , #49 , #50 , #51 , # 52 , , #54 , #55 , #56 , and #57 . We encourage you to read them or contact us directly if you have any questions (and there are many).
As previously reported, the Regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology of June 21, 2022, regarding the percentage rates used to calculate contributions to the Developer Guarantee Fund was published on June 27, 2022. This means that for development agreements signed under the new rules, the percentage rates used to calculate contributions to the Developer Guarantee Fund will be:
1) 0.45% – in the case of open housing escrow accounts;
2) 0.1% – in the case of closed housing escrow accounts.
We also wish to point out that even if you are conducting development projects under the current Development Act, they still require adjustments, as the new Act requires the introduction of new provisions. Therefore, if you require advice in this regard, please contact us.
2. Amendment to the Notarial Act
Back in January, we reported on further changes – this time concerning entries in land and mortgage registers ( #88 ). Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has made available a draft bill amending the Notarial Act and certain other acts on the Government Legislation Center website. Under the proposed bill, a notary who has operated a law firm for three years , provided no final judgment imposing a disciplinary penalty has been issued against them, will be able to submit an application to the Minister of Justice for a certificate authorizing them to perform two activities:
- entries in the land and mortgage register – in this respect, as a substitute for the consideration of applications by the land and mortgage register departments of the courts,
- issuing notarial payment orders – in this respect acting as civil or commercial divisions of courts.
Under the bill, a notary will be able to review applications for land and mortgage register entries concerning the establishment and encumbrance of separate ownership of premises with limited property rights and other claims concerning the premises, as well as applications for land and mortgage register entries concerning the establishment of separate ownership of premises, the annexation or detachment of real estate or parts thereof, along with the disclosure in the land and mortgage register of limited property rights, disposal restrictions, and other rights and claims. This change, controversial for many, is intended to expedite land and mortgage register proceedings, particularly for individuals who, while waiting months for their applications to be processed, pay increased mortgage installments.
In addition to making entries in the land and mortgage register, the notary will also be able to issue a notarial payment order . A notarial payment order may be issued if the validity of the claim is beyond doubt, in particular if the claim is proven by an official document attached to the application, an invoice approved by the debtor, or a demand for payment from the debtor, and a written statement from the debtor acknowledging the debt.
The amount of claims that can be confirmed by a notarial payment order has been limited in the draft to PLN 75,000, i.e. the amount corresponding to the material jurisdiction of the district court, in accordance with Article 17, point 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
An application for a notarial payment order must be submitted on an official form, the template of which will be specified in a regulation issued by the Minister of Justice. A notary public will be able to issue no more than 200 notarial payment orders per month.
The project is currently in the review phase.
3. Single-family house without a building permit
Minister Waldemar Buda announced that changes are planned in the construction law, aimed at completely eliminating the requirement to obtain a building permit for investments intended to meet one's own housing needs. The changes will primarily involve removing the criterion regarding the maximum building area, which is currently set at 70 square meters2.
According to information provided by the minister, the amending act is to be adopted in the autumn of this year and would enter into force on 1 January 2023.
We wrote more about the announced changes to the Construction Law in the article #108.
4. Information from GUNB on the possibility of submitting CEEB declarations
On June 30, 2022, the statutory deadline for building owners and managers to submit CEEB heat source declarations expired. According to data provided by the General Office of Building Control, a significant portion of the entities required to do so failed to comply. Therefore, in a press release dated July 1, 2022, the General Office of Building Control reminded the public of the possibility of submitting CEEB declarations even after the statutory deadline, while also noting that despite failing to submit the CEEB declaration on time, a fine (which can amount to up to PLN 5,000) can be avoided by submitting the declaration before the date on which the commune head, mayor, or city president becomes aware of the offense.
Taking the above into account, we encourage those who have not submitted a CEEB declaration and are obliged to do so in order to avoid a possible penalty.
5. Changes in construction law – electronic construction log
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes have been introduced to the Construction Law aimed at digitizing the construction process. We have already written in detail about the possibility of submitting, among other things, applications for building permits electronically – #28, #29, #30, #31.
Now it's time for the next step, and on June 30, 2022, the Senate adopted the Act amending the Building Law and certain other acts, introducing minor amendments in terms of nomenclature and systematics, but did not make any substantive amendments.
The project underway aims to digitize the construction process by:
- enabling the maintenance of a construction log in electronic form (via the EDB system),
- enabling the maintenance of a construction book in electronic form (via the EKOB system),
- regulation of the e-Construction portal,
- ensuring the maintenance of central registers of persons with construction qualifications and those penalized for professional liability through an appropriate IT system (e-CRUB),
- enabling the electronic reconciliation of the following documents in terms of compliance with fire protection requirements: a plot or land development plan, an architectural and construction plan, a technical plan and a fire protection device plan.
The bill has been referred to the Sejm Infrastructure Committee for its opinion. The bill will generally enter into force 14 days after its publication, but some changes will take effect on August 1, 2022, six months after its publication, or on January 1, 2023.
We will describe the changes in detail after the final version is adopted by the Sejm.
In the next article, we will characterize personal servitudes as a special type of servitude, giving additional rights to a specific person.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of July 4, 2022.
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